The attached report is on Connecticut's huge Pinchot Sycamore, which is Connecticut's largest tree. Pinchot and the Sunderland Sycamore in Massachusetts are arguably New England's largest trees. Had we reported the measurement of the circumference at 4.5 feet above the base, Pinchot would have earned 3 more points. We settled on 28.35 feet, which is the smallest circumference between 4.5 feet and the ground.

Pinchot is named after Gifford Pinchot, father of the U.S. Forest Service. He was from Simsbury, CT. Pinchot was also a governor of Pennsylvania. He was a true conservationist, and in my humble opinion deserving of the Pinchot Sycamore.

Thanks, and that is a splendid photo. It shows Pinchots enormous limbs. At one point Bob Van Pelt measured the longest limb on Pinchot to 88 feet. That limb has lost a little, but we still have the 80 and 80.8 footers. Not bad for New England.

Bob

Robert T. LeverettCo-founder and Executive DirectorNative Native Tree SocietyCo-founder and PresidentFriends of Mohawk Trail State Forest

What a tree! Leaving aside the two sycamores, what would be the next largest tree of a different species in New England? A White Oak, perhaps? Or maybe a White Pine?

Elijah

"There is nothing in the world to equal the forest as nature made it. The finest formal forest, the most magnificent artificially grown woods, cannot compare with the grandeur of primeval woodland." Bob Marshall, Recreational Limitations to Silviculture in the Adirondacks

Bob4st wrote:WOW!! I've never seen a deciduous tree that large in my life. That is a must-trip to be taken. Do any of you have a few photos of it from a distance which illustrates its overall shape and condition?

The Pinchot Sycamore is one of a handful of super trees in the New England-New York region. Another is the Pine Planes Sycamore in Pine Plains NY. Here are two images of it.

The current measurements of this sycamore are probably now little over 27 feet around and between 114 and 118 feet in height with an average crown spread of approximately 140 feet. Giving the tree the benefit of the doubt, it earns 476 or 477 points on the big tree formula, eclipsing Pinchot by 2 or 3 points. What is especially appealing about the Pine Plains tree is that it its in a cornfield and owns its surroundings. The countryside is bucolic, gorgeous. By contrast, the Pinchot and Sunderland Sycamores are forced to suffer indignities from indifferent travelers who speed by these great trees leaving nothing but a trail of automobile fumes.

Serious modeling of these three trees for volume has always been a goal of mine. I've fiddled with numbers, have no confidence in the results. I could do the Pinchot and the Pine Plains trees, but probably not the Sunderland, which is the most exposed to a steady stream of traffic and gawkers.

Bob

Robert T. LeverettCo-founder and Executive DirectorNative Native Tree SocietyCo-founder and PresidentFriends of Mohawk Trail State Forest